Standards for

1

• Standards for
• Electronic Publishing
• Titia van der Werf
• Koninklijke Bibliotheek

EC Telematics for Libraries Programme
2

• NEDLIB report 3 was commissioned to Mark Bide
  Associates
• aim of the report is to assist librarians to a
  better understanding of e-publishing issues
• based on interviews with 14 European publishers
  from different sectors

EC Telematics for Libraries Programme
3

• Production process is not publishings main
  concern
• publishers mostly outsource the technical
  aspects of the production process
• also outsourcing of middleware
• complicates deposit arrangements with publishers

EC Telematics for Libraries Programme
4

• Standards to aid the process of deposit and
  long-term preservation
• publishers adopt standards only where there are
  good commercial reasons to do so
• long-term preservation is someone elses
  problem

EC Telematics for Libraries Programme
5

• Standards to aid the process of deposit and
  long-term preservation
• scholarly journal publishers are concerned
  because their subscribers are
• the subscription business model pushes publishers
  to deposit their material with national libraries

EC Telematics for Libraries Programme
6

• Standards to aid the process of deposit and
  long-term preservation
• de facto standard for page description language
  PDF
• standard markup languages HTML, XML, SGML
• de facto user interface standards windows-based
  and web-browsers
• CD-ROM is out, e-book in in

EC Telematics for Libraries Programme
7

• Standards to aid the process of deposit and
  long-term preservation
• publishing formats need to manage complexity of
  content
• add-ons (functionality in readers, plug-ins,
  customised DTDs)
• problems due to more diversity and version
  control
• encryption problem

EC Telematics for Libraries Programme
8

• Conclusion
• good news trends towards convergence and
  standard solutions
• challenge continuous drive towards
  diversification and optimalisation of
  functionality/structure/presentation
• can be addressed through practical approach and
  good relations with publishers

EC Telematics for Libraries Programme